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Advanced Photonix Receives $1.5M THz Contract

Photonics.comApr 2012
ANN ARBOR, Mich., April 26, 2012 — Advanced Photonix Inc. announced Wednesday its receipt of a follow-on, 21-month, $1.5 million contract from the US Air Force to provide terahertz process control instrumentation to support F-35 joint strike fighter production.

The contract is a commercialization pilot program award to ensure the quality of specialty stealth coatings applied by Northrop Grumman to a subsystem on the F-35. The commercialization pilot program will accelerate the transition of small business innovation research (SBIR) funded technologies to Phase III production and deployment purchases by the Department of Defense.

The two previous phases demonstrated feasibility in the lab and in Northrop Grumman’s facility. This contract funds further application and system development, which will culminate in the delivery of two production units for deployment on the manufacturing floor by the end of 2013.

Once completed, the system will consist of the T-Ray 4000 control unit, which is connected to a miniature terahertz transceiver via a flexible umbilical up to 100 m in length mounted onto an existing robot arm within a paint booth. A handheld version that will allow measurement on cured coatings without the robot is also planned.

The proposed system could apply other coatings of interest to the US Army and US Navy. The sensors also could be used for monitoring and inspecting coatings and paints applied in industrial settings, such as automobile manufacturing.

A sub-field of photonics that pertains to an electronic device that responds to optical power, emits or modifies optical radiation, or utilizes optical radiation for its internal operation. Any device that functions as an electrical-to-optical or optical-to-electrical transducer. Electro-optic often is used erroneously as a synonym.

The technology of generating and harnessing light and other forms of radiant energy whose quantum unit is the photon. The science includes light emission, transmission, deflection, amplification and detection by optical components and instruments, lasers and other light sources, fiber optics, electro-optical instrumentation, related hardware and electronics, and sophisticated systems. The range of applications of photonics extends from energy generation to detection to communications and...